A celebration of the wonders of nature

Monthly Archives: October 2015

Beautifully ugly….

White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus

This is a vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is closely related to the European Griffon.The White-backed Vulture is a typical vulture, with only down feathers on the head and neck, very broad wings and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff. The adult’s whitish back contrasts with the otherwise dark plumage. Juveniles are largely dark.Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of animals which it finds by soaring over savannah.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.

This is a large species of eagle that is found throughout sub-Saharan Africa wherever large bodies of open water occur that have an abundant food supply. It is the national bird of Zimbabwe and Zambia and South Sudan. Its haunting call has become the iconic sound of the African bush.

This image was captured on the Chobe River, near Kasane, northern Botswana, Southern Africa.